But as long as the discs are the "good ones" (NOT Value Series, NOT Life Series), then it honestly doesn't matter.

All Verbatim MCC/MKM media are produced at one of the Mitsubishi-owned or Mitsubishi-operated/inspected facilities. FTI owns the plant in UAE, but Mitsubishi is still the one making the media there. Moser Baur in India, CMC in Taiwan, Prodisc in Taiwan. Same for all locations -- Mitsubishi has a clear and definitive hand on what goes on with their own discs.

.. SPECULATION AHEAD...

I'm actually started to wonder if Verbatim/Mitsubishi isn't going to use Taiwan locations anymore. There had been some forum rumors that the Taiwan plants didn't quite have the MCC oversight they needed in the last year or so.

That could explain the surge in cheap CMC/Ritek media under the Verbatim name. The FTI plant is still going strong that I know of, as is India. I've not seen new "made in Taiwan" authentic MCC discs in a while now. Only the Value/Life stuff is Taiwanese.

Labor costs are going up in some of those Asian "orient" countries these days (GOOD FOR THEM, TOO!! -- And by default, the USA.)

Just some logical observations. It may be wrong.

I've not had time to make calls, emails and do some diligent research for about 3-4 months now, in terms of the business forecasting side of things.

/ SPECULATION

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mlongue1 (11-12-2010)

I ordered some Verbatim Shiny Silver 8X's from SuperMediaStore a couple months ago - three boxes - and they were all made in Taiwan. Definitely not Value Series. I haven't yet had a chance to do a media ID on them, but I will soon.

I know you're speculating but, since you're addressing forum rumors I haven't read, could you elaborate a bit more on this possible oversight issue with Taiwanese MCC? Or maybe link to those threads/posts? I don't want to be concerned about this three box investment I just made and plan on using for archive projects. Thanks!

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mlongue1 (11-12-2010)

I bought about 300-400 of those same discs late last year -- they were fine. MCC media through and through. I'm sure the discs you have are fine.

The rumors are just that -- rumors. There have always been varying rumors about MCC production locations -- most of it random, baseless and false. The only way I could see there being "less oversight" is if the production were being ended at those locations. That's really what I was on about -- had production decreased, I could see how that might equate to a smaller MCC presence, which may have snowballed (as usual) and twisted into the rumor I mentioned. I don't think for a minute that unobserved manufacturing would happen with Mitsubishi, or that substandard media would be allowed out.

Don't read too much into this. These are the kinds of questions I'd ask in an interview with a reliable source.

The sources for most rumors are the raving lunatics of the cdfreaks.com forum. Nothing against the site owners, mods or knowledgeable older members. But some of those guys are ... odd... and I don't know where they get their BS. Even manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers scratch their heads at some of that stuff you see there. It reads like a conspiracy theorist forum at times, full of pseudo-science and runaway common sense.

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mlongue1 (11-12-2010)